The Rival
by llPainll
Summary: uchiha sasuke is my rival and never in all my lives will i even look at him! naruto said. SasuNaru. starts off romeo juliet style.


Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters (disclaimers suck)

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**The Uchihas and the Uzumakis**

Once upon a time, there were two clans in a hidden village called Konoha. These two were the Uchiha and the Uzumaki clan. Now these two were bitter enemies and their endless fight was continued by the next generation. These two clans had their respective successors: Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto. Whenever the two clans met on the streets, the never left without a fight. One day, the head of the village, called as the Hokage, got sick of this endless quarrel and said the the next person to fight on the streets from either of these clans will be banished from the village ...

**---**

The Hokage returned to his rooms, accompanied by Lord Uchiha, while Lord and Lady Uzumaki walked slowly back to their home, accompanied by their son, Naruto's greatest friend, Nara Shikamaru. Lady Uzumaki was releived to hear that her only son had not taken part in the fight. But upon seeing Naruto at the scene of the fight, she noticed that his interests seemed far away from bloodshed. She wanted to know what was troubling her only son, for he was troubled, she was certain of that. She had a suspicion that young Naruto was in love, but she needed confirmation, and for that task she appointed Shikamaru, whom Naruto confided everything, for they were the greatest of friends. She asked Shikamaru to find out what was in his center of affections. She also believed that a person confided more eaisily to someone of their own age and generation.

That evening, as the two friends walked along the streets, Shikamaru found out that young Naruto _was_ in love. He asked:

'Tell me in sadness who it is you love.'

'What?' Naruto asked. 'Shall I groan and tell you?'

'Groan? Of course not! But tell me in sadness.' Shikamaru said.

'Well, in sadness, friend, I do love a woman.' he admitted.

'I guessed that much when I supposed you loved! But she does not love you? Which foolish creature does not love the handsome Naruto?' Shikamaru asked, smiling.

'She deeply loves none other than my rival. That is why I am lost in sadness and I am half-willing to die.' Naruto said with a sigh.

'Who is this troublesome lady?' Shikamaru persisted, and Naruto told him that, as her name suggests, she was a beautiful lady named Sakura.

'Take my advice and forget about the fair Sakura.' Shikamaru said, for he had not yet fallen in love as he thought that women were too troublesome.

'Forget? How can I forget? All I can do is wish to forget.' Naruto said increduosly.

'Of course you can forget! There are plenty of other beauties in Konoha who can make Sakura glare at them for their beauty.

'No one can be as beautiful.' said the lovesick Naruto who would refuse to hear any such thing about his love.

'You are too troublesome to talk to. I have given you my advice. Take it or leave it.' Shikamaru said and made a failed effort to cheer him up. 'The only thing you can do is cure your broken love with a new one! Fall into love with someone else, then you will of course forget about the fair Sakura.'

Naruto did not take Shikamaru's advice seriously. They continued walking and ran into a servant, a messenger boy of some sort. He seemed very confused. He was holding a chit in his hand and was scratching his head in a weird manner. He looked up as the two friends walked that way.

'I pray, sir, can you read?' he said. Naruto admitted with a grin that he could.

'Then I pray that you will read these names for me.' the messenger said. Naruto read out all the names. Then he asked what they were for.

'They are guests for the party Lord Uchiha has organized, and if you are not an Uzumaki, I pray that you come too.' and he walked off.

'It's troublesome, but I think you should slip into the party.' Shikamaru said.

'What for?'

'There'll be beauties from all over the Fire Country at the Uchiha's party. I suggest that you go and look for somebody else to cure your broken love.' In the end, Naruto agreed. That night, he walked into the party with a mask on his face, because it was a fashion at that time, to wear a mask to parties arranged by rich people to dance.

Indeed, as Shikamaru said, there were many beauties at the party. But none of them were able to take Naruto off the beautiful Sakura. It was only when he saw the successor to the Uchiha for the first time that Sakura left his mind. Even though his face was covered by a mask, Naruto could still tell that he would be a handsome boy of his age. He looked strong and fearsome, though of course Naruto was not afraid of him. Still, Naruto would have to go quite far to keep up to his rival. Naruto did not take his eyes of the Uchiha. It was not as though he was in love with him, but he still attracted attention.

At the same time, the Uchiha too was staring shamelessly at the Uzumaki. He did not realize that he was an Uzumaki, but he still continued to stare. Because their faces were covered by masks they could not make out that they were staring at each other. At last Naruto realized what he was doing and turned away, his hidden cheeks slightly red. He focused his attention on the Uchiha's elder brother, Uchiha Itachi, who had just strided into the room. Naruto knew that Itachi had a nasty fighting spirit. He always wanted to fight wherever they were. He saw Itachi stride towards his father and argue, in the end, he left the room, with his hand on the hilt of his sword. As Lord Uchiha walked across the room, Sasuke asked him what happened.

'Surely, Father, Itachi was not thinking of starting a fight here?'

'I'm afraid that he was! He claims that he saw Uzumaki Naruto at this party. But so what if young Naruto is here, as long as he behaves himself.' his father replied. Sasuke frowned and walked away, thinking exactly what Naruto was dreading. Soon people began dancing. But Lord Uchiha, Sasuke, Naruto and a few other men did not dance. Sasuke's father slowly began a conversation about Sasuke's marriage. Sasuke did not talk back nor did he react. His face remained expressionless.

' ... Young Sakura has loved you for quite a while now, and her father is also quite wealthy. I'm sure you wouldn't want to betray her feelings. Of course, I don't want to force you to marry her. You decide and tell me tomorrow. If you agree, the marriage will be fixed to the coming Saturday.' his father was telling him. For some reason, as Naruto heard all this, he began to get a twitch of annoyance at the fact the Sasuke was going to get married. His mind was not at all on Sakura. That was not the reason he did not want Sasuke to get married. But he could not think of the reason why.

A little later, the party came to an end. Naruto slowly walked out, with Sakura's image replaced by Sasuke's. But he was trying to remove that. How can he love a man? Shikamaru was waiting for him outside along with their other friend, Inuzaka Kiba, who always carried his pet dog, Akamaru, with him.

'So, did you find somebody else?' Shikamaru asked. Naruto did not answer for a while.

'No.' he lied at last. He did not want to tell him that he was in love with a man. Shikamaru would say that Naruto must be mad or something to like a man. The three friends slowly walked back along the streets. Naruto was wondering what to do. He finally decided that he needed to see Sasuke again and ran forwards and ducked into a bush to escape his companions. He heard Kiba saying:

'The young chap's mind is quite unstable. I think he loves Sakura too much to agree to the fact that she would slap him if he told her that he loved her.'

Naruto ignored him and sneaked away from his companions as they searched for him. He reached the Uchiha mansion and saw Sasuke standing there in his balcony.

A/N: well? this is my first naruto fic with a pairing. so review and tell me how well i studied shakespeare for my exams.

Kai Hiwatari II


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